Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Beachy wins fifth spot

The Braves have optioned Mike Minor to Triple-A Gwinnett and informed him that Brandon Beachy will begin the season as their fifth starter. Minor was informed of the decision Thursday morning. <p>

“We just feel Brandon gives us a better chance to win right now,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “It was a tough decision to make.”

Beachy began receiving congratulatory messages from his teammates shortly after arriving at the clubhouse Thursday morning.

“Obviously I’m happy about it,” Beachy said. “I’m excited about the opportunity. Hopefully we can a few wins and I can be a big contributor to help us reach our goal.” <p>

Minor, the seventh overall selection in the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, has compiled just 175 innings in pro ball. The 23-year-old left-hander has tremendous upside, but could seemingly benefit from having a chance to spend more time refining his curveball and changeup.

“We just told him to go down and stay ready because you never know when you’re going to be needed,” Wren said.

Minor said he was simply happy a decision had been made. Last week, he seemed to be preparing himself to the possibility he would begin the year in the Minors.

“It’s going to be a good,” Minor said. “I just wanted an answer and today I got it. Now I can focus on getting ready for the season at Triple-A. It’s going to be good for me to work on my curveball and hopefully go back up when I have all three of my pitches going and be able to spot them up.” <p>

Beachy, signed as an undrafted free agent in 2008, has made a meteoric rise after beginning last year in Double-A Mississippi’s bullpen. He made three strong starts for Atlanta at the end of last year and has shown great command during Spring Training.

“To be in this situation to break with the team, it’s awesome,” Beachy said. <p>

I think its perfect. Minor needs to work on his 3rd pitch (Curve). I’d hate to see him get shelled by major league pitching while doing so. Beachy has all of his pitches working right now and these two are both equal caliber. Minor wont be in Gwinnett for long if Beachy struggles.

Congrats to Beachy on making the team. You can’t help but pull for a kid like that. While I would like to have a lefty in the rotation, it’s apparent that Beachy is more ready than Minor at this point. With all of our young pitching, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them not named Teheran packaged in a deal for a right handed bat.

Well, that’s awesome. Good for Beachy. We will have plenty of left handed pitching when we need it most – at the middle innings and late innings of the games.

It’s great to be that deep. Wonderful to know that Minor will be getting plenty of work and will be ready to go when we need him (notice the word “when”). Also looking forward to getting Medlin back too.

Fredi pulled the right triggers on these two moves. Beachy just has better command of his pitches right now and Jordan needs AB. It’s good that McLouth has had such a good spring so Jordan could take his time working his way back. It’s nice to have a little OF depth in the minors for a change and our pitching depth is great too. Man, I am ready for games to count. Hope Jurrjens thing was just a tweak.

I’d say Martinez gets the spot in the bullpen. I’d also say Hicks may get the Utility spot. Remember what was always said of him, he is already a Major League SS, if he hits even a little. Well, there is the late innings defense we can’t get from anyone else in camp. It lets Brooks be Brooks, and nobody will have to knock a battery off his shoulder to prove it.

Rother, I also think Martinez will get the last spot in the bullpen. I have always thought that he gave great effort and respectable work in long inning situations.

I think having Hicks as a late defensive replacement would be an interesting move. Defensive specialists are not exactly the norm in MLB anymore. Usually, someone needs to be able to swing the stick to crack an MLB lineup. However, with that being said, Hicks could provide good defense, pinch running, and good at-bats. He may not hit .330, but if he can move runners over effectively then he would definitely have a shot. I wonder how Fredi will approach the situation.

Also, Diory and Hicks play the same position. It would be strange to see them both in Gwinnett taking at bats and reps away from each other. Lucas can be a 3B or 2B at Gwinnett. Matt Young is still in the mix as well, and he can play a legit 2B or CF. Interesting next few days on tap…

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